Minefields and Crystal Balls. Och its the DWP/ATOS again. Argh!!!!

I don't often speak about my current personal circumstances but on this occasion it just has to be done.

I have a long term illness called ME or CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) with fybromyalgia, with the added complications of some other issues too which I shall not go into for brevity.

Minefield

Realising I was ill in 2011 I was loathed to get into to the minefield of the UK Benefits system again having been ill all ready between 2005 to 2008. I therefore stayed on Job Seekers Allowance hoping I would get better in the meantime but couldn't cope with the constant harassment of attending unexpected appointments and applying for jobs that I knew that because of my illness I would not be able to do anyway.

Crystal Balls

I was just thinking that today's issue with the ‪#‎DWP‬ is similar to the time my ‪#‎JSA‬ (Job Seekers Allowance) payments were sanctioned for not attending an appointment with my advisor at Parkhead Job Centre. The only issue on that occasion was the fact the letter advising me of aforesaid appointment arrived after aforesaid appointment. So in order to have kept my JSA I would've needed a crystal ball or multiple crystal balls, and the ability to read it/them too of course!

 This is not my experience and nor anyone elses experience who actually lives in the real world.

So currently due to illness I have to suffer the UK sickness benefits system once again, which is enough to make you feel worse before you start, if you or any of the people you know have actually been involved in it. I don't know what world some politicians stay in, or the one constantly portrayed by the mainstream broadcasters i.e. that there are millions of people on these benefits who are actually not ill at all, and are therefore diddling the system. This is not my experience and nor anyone elses experience who actually lives in the real world.

Being on ESA isn't a lifestyle choice anyone with half a brain would chose if they were able to avoid it.

Being on Employment and Support Allowance is not a lifestyle choice anyone with half a brain would chose if they were able to avoid it. Every single year I have been refused it, except oddly this one, and then had to go to tribunal always getting it once the evidence was actually considered and not just dismissed.

This was despite having a long term condition, which caused me additional expenses, which the benefit is actually for.

Therefore with severely limited energy I avoided applying for #DLA or #DisabilityLivingAllowance after my first abortive attempt when despite my evidence being credible my application was refused. This was despite having a long term condition, which caused me additional expenses, which the benefit is actually for.

So this year I decided I would tackle PIP (Personal Independence Payment) the new replacement to DLA which I applied for in March. I am still waiting to be assessed.

Firstly ATOS contacted me to tell me to be patient (well I should have gotten this benefit about 8 years ago so I am that!).

I was contacted in October. After properly looking up where I was exactly to go to be assessed for ‪#‎PIP‬ - I thought it was a ‪#‎Falkirk‬ postcode but it was actually a Business Park outside ‪#‎Stirling‬. How do ‪#‎ATOS‬ expect someone with a disability or long term illness to get there? Is this a cynical ploy to stop folk from ‪#‎Glasgow‬ getting PIP?

However on contacting ATOS, despite this being standard procedure to send people from Glasgow to Stirling for assessments, they stated that in my case they would arrange for one actually in the city I lived.

In my case they would arrange for one actually in the city I lived.

I then waited with bated breath and was not disappointed when a letter from them popped through my letterbox when I was asleep again. Well no surprise there?

A letter arrived from the ‪#‎DWP‬ today advising my ‪#‎PIP‬ (Personal Independence Payment, the new replacement to ‪#‎DLA‬ or ‪#‎DisabilityLivingAllowance‬) application has been unsuccessful. Why? Because the reason I gave for my lack of attendence at my assessment on 31st October 2014 with ‪#‎ATOS‬ at Salus in ‪#‎Glasgow‬ was unsatisfactory. Yet I gave no reason as ATOS themselves cancelled the appointment! You could not make it up!!!!
 
I have to wait for months and months for this crap! You wouldn't need to need the money (which I most definitely do). To think I paid my taxes diligently for years and years when I was working (unlike Gideon and his rich pals) expecting that the Welfare State would be there when I needed it and this is what I end up with!